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Electric Light Orchestra - Face the Music Audio CD

A fair review of the Electric Light Orchestra "Face the Music" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Electric Light Orchestra reviews here, or go back to the Electric Light Orchestra tabs.

Electric Light Orchestra Band: Electric Light Orchestra
Title: Face the Music
Rating:
Release Date: 2006-09-12
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Fire on High 2: Waterfall 3: Evil Woman 4: Nightrider 5: Poker 6: Strange Magic 7: Down Home Town 8: One Summer Dream 9: Fire on High [Early Alternative Mix][#][*] 10: Evil Woman [Stripped Down Mix][#][*] 11: Strange Magic [U. S. Single Edit][*] 12: Waterfall [Instrumental Mix][#][*]

Classic ELO!
This CD includes the classic "Fire on High", which is one of my all time favorite songs. In my opinion this is one of the best ELO albums (showing my age) ever. This CD also includes some extras at the end which are kinda fun. When I played the CD for my kids, with the wierd 70's experimental beginning, my teenage kids thought I had lost my mind. This CD is great in my family room stereo, blasting out of my car stereo, or rocking on my MP3 player. .


One more evidence of the seriousness of 70s Rock composers/performers... A music jewel!!!!


And, no doubt about it, it shows that back in the 70s there were a lot of excellent musicians, singers, composers and producers. This "Face The Music" was one of the albums I was lucky to get in its LP version, as soon as it was issued and sold in record shops.
Jeff Lynne, E. L. O. 's frontman, got one of his best creatures in this album.

Since the very first tune, the almost dramatic instrumental 'Fire On High' with full of classic and operatic chorus works, mixed with acoustic guitar, moog (synthesizer's grandpa) and wild beating drums, this album is A MUST for every serious Rock music collector.

Almost every song in this album is a hit, even when some songs weren't widely aired on radio: 'Waterfall', the superhit 'Evil Woman', the romantic 'Strange Magic'. This album is one of those you can listen from the beginning to the end, without questioning the quality of the performance or the songs themselves. A-1 for sure!!!!!

The remastered edition has a very, very good sound quality! .


still amazing
This album has so much energy and creativity with Nightrider, Poker, and Fire On High. This album was, and still is, amazing. Also, I agree. . . Jeff Lynne is a creative genius.


Excellent Album
This album, to me, is their most evenly produced. I own virtually all of ELO's albums, as well as the greatest hits of the group they evolved from, The Move. I feel that a couple of the songs from "A New World Record" (Their next album) would be as strong as any ELO has produced, but that album would not be as consistent as this one.

"Face The Music" opens with my personal favorite of all ELO tracks, the outstanding instrumental "Fire On High". It still sounds technologically fresh today, and the music is progressive and accessible all at once; I'm sure Alan Parsons wishes he had come up with this track!

Much like it's opening track, the album is filled with twists and turns; "Down Home Town" dabbles with a hoedown feel, while "Poker" lets the band dig into its' rockabilly roots. The two excellent singles, "Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic", are wrongfully blamed for the bland, poppy style that would follow. These two tracks are, in fact, true pop nuggets that showcased Jeff Lynne's strong ability to write music, while taking it in an arguably progressive direction.

It could be argued that this album was the first rumbling of a style that would subsequently be characterized "New Wave". The music relies much more on synthesizers and strings as opposed to guitars, although the odd power chord remains. As they honed and developed their new sound through the next few albums, ELO would increasingly be dismissed as a lightweight pop band that was better suited to AC radio than AOR. True though this might have been in their later career, at this stage in time ELO was a pioneering band, writing a solid blend of commercially accessible music with progressive stylings. Music fans of today should be searching out this excellent album and evaluating for themselves the impact ELO would have on the progression of popular music in the 1970's and 1980's.

My own view is that some of the stronger artists to emerge from the New Wave era, such as the Eurythmics, owe a great debt to this album.


ELO
Wanted Fire on High so I opted for Face The Music. . . excellent album in 1975 and still is, though I wish the "bonus" tracks had been something of more interest. Perhaps actual songs not used on the album, surely ELO had plenty.


You can see a complete list of all Electric Light Orchestra discography, or go back to the Electric Light Orchestra tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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